You only live thrice
by SapphireNight
Summary: FINISHED. Thrice3 times. Machine tecnology is much more advanced than human. Including medical tecnology. Post revolutions. Trinity and Neo.The early chapters have been altered slightly so they are better. FINAL CHAPTER IS UP NOW!
1. Kiss me, once more Kiss me

I apologise that I didn't write this before, it slipped my mind. I am not male. I have no brothers; in fact, I'm an only child. I think its safe to say my name isn't Larry or Andy Wachowski so I don't own anything. Which is a shame, cus I wouldn't mind being on set every day with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss!  
  
*~*~*  
  
The machine hid in the shadows of the pilot cabin, watching the scene play out in front of her. Her nephew, Rama, had asked her to watch over Neo and his lady. Rama-Kandra had had the good fortune of meeting the man in the train station whilst trying to save his daughter, Sati, and had said if he did eventually to come to Zero-One, to look after him and the one he cared for. Now the lady was lying on the floor in great pain, several metal rods sticking out of her, whilst her man stood over her, desperately trying to cling on to what little life still resided in her body. Lara had to help, but knew from what Rama had told her that Neo had a job to do, and disturbing them now would stop Neo from accomplishing that. She knew herself that her world was in great danger, even if Lara didn't believe that this Neo could stop it, she did have emotions*, and seeing the despair in front of her was almost unbearable.  
  
She sent one of her micro-daughters to the dying woman to collect a sample of her blood. When Lara would be able to treat her, she would need some blood transfusions. Her brother, Charlie, had gone to the power plant to collect the much needed substance, leaving her free to make a move on the woman once Neo left, which surely would be only after her heart stopped. Lara only hoped that he didn't stay too long after it happened, as that would complicate matters of reviving her.  
  
She waited patiently in the darkness, ready to act at the first opportunity.  
  
~*~  
  
She looked at his face, and all she could see was utter despair. She knew she wasn't going to last long, and she had to say what she needed to before she left. She only hoped she could live long enough to tell him.  
  
"You gave me my wish. One more chance to say what I really wanted to say..."  
  
She looked at his face again, seeing the hopelessness there again, and said what she knew would be her final words.  
  
"Kiss me, once more. Kiss me."  
  
She felt his lips on hers, pure emotion poring from them. then nothing. Blackness. An absence of everything. She wished Neo the best of luck, knowing how almost helpless he would feel without her. She placed a kissed on his cheek, but knew he would never feel it. She also knew one other thing. The feeling she felt was one she had had once before. She had expected to see whiteness, a bright light at the end of the tunnel. At the least, she expected everything to stop, for everything to cease.  
  
But no, it didn't. The feeling she was experiencing was the same one she had experienced on the rooftop after she had been shot. It was a feeling of floating in nothingness, an absence from her body. It was the feeling of only being temporarily parted from physical self.  
  
*~*~*  
  
* This will be explained in later chapters. Just think about Rama-Kandra and his family. They showed emotions, and I have a perfectly reasonable explanation, which I shall, as I said, put in a later chapter. 


	2. The worries of an old man

Councillor Hamann was restless that night, as he always was. Although that night he had a reasonable excuse for not sleeping, which he usually never did have.

It was two days after the great fight. Two days of endless non-stop repair and restoration to the community around him. Two days since two of their best and most precious fighters had departed on a small ship for the Machine City, Zero-One, and had somehow succeeded in ending the fast becoming slaughter in Zion. Something which everyone there in the human city had been unable to do.

Hamann worried about them. About their fate, about how they managed to succeed. Did they survive the journey to Zero-One, or could one of them have perished in the attempt? Were they coming back home at all? He had to know. He had talked to the One himself, and had seen in him what few of the residents of Zion had seen. A real person, with hopes, dreams and fears. Not just some tool to aid them in an upcoming battle. And that's why he needed to know. If it remained a mystery, that is probably what the 'legendary' Neo and Trinity would become- viewed as either tools, or mysteries, or just plain legends.

Hamann stopped outside Morpheus' door (he hoped he remembered correctly) and knocked, knowing that the inhabitant was unlikely to be asleep.

Captain Niobe answered the door. _Or alone_.

"Is Morpheus in? I need to talk about a rather urgent matter with the both of you."

"Yes, of course, Councillor," She replied, revealing the other person in the room. He stepped inside, and began to talk. 

"I have a proposition for you two. You say it was two days ago since Neo and Trinity left on your ship for Zero-One. They obviously succeeded somehow, but we need to know what the agreement was with the machines, if we are ever going to keep this fragile peace. If they did give their lives for us, we don't want to go throwing their sacrifice away. We also need to know what happened to them, to our friends, to the One and _his one_. I know I'm not the only one who wants to know what happened to Bane. At the least, as your, er, ex would probably say, we need the ship if they are down." Hamann said to them both, looking at Morpheus when he said 'ex', with a raised eyebrow and a smile on his face.

"I have a private hovercraft, a small one, only holds 4 people, and that's using the two beds in sick-bay. That means only two people can go to find Neo and Trinity if we are to bring them back to us. You two."

"We'll do it. Don't worry, we'll do it."

"Ah, good. Thank you. Straight to business. You can leave now, if you want; I will personally give you clearance, and anything else you need. Just call me and I'll try my best to help you with that, so long as it is within my powers. I do have one further request, though. I'd appreciate it if no one else knows about this. It would cause too many complications. I have your word?"

"Yes, of course." Came the reply from both Niobe and Morpheus, and they turned round to gather what little possessions they needed for the ship as Councillor Hamann left the room, smile on his face at the possibility of having the heroes back, The One and _his one_.


	3. Lara

Pain

That was the first thing she felt as her heart re-started pumping blood round her body. 

Pain just below her chest, forming a sort of band, separating her aching and agonising upper body from her numb and dead like lower body.

The second thing she felt was worry. She had departed her life, for what she had felt was the final time, mid kiss with her lover. She knew very well how he deeply cared for her, she how much it would have broken him for her to leave him like that. 

Trinity knew, without her, Neo had little reason to live, and that worried her the most. If he accomplished his task, ending the war, he would, literally, have nothing to live for.

She was so deep in thought and pain it took a while to realise that something was not right with her. She then looked down, and what she saw could have made her heart stop again of shock. There were ant-like metallic shimmers running round her chest and arm, especially her wounds. 

Before she had time to worry further, she then felt her head being tilted forwards, and a spike enter her neural plug.

~*~

Lara removed the metal probes from the woman's chest, which she had used to restart her heart, and felt a wave of relief wash over her that the woman had been revived successfully. _At least that's one problem out of the way._

She had already sent most of her micro-daughters out to stop the internal bleeding. They would form a layer around the metal pipes inside her, so when those pipes were removed, there would be little or no blood loss. The micro-daughters were fine, 1 mm long machines that could join together to form a wall, and so stop bleeding and help blood to clot. Her brother had already came back with the much-needed blood a while ago, and the infusions had begun as quickly as possible.

Lara saw the woman was now conscious, and in obvious pain like she had been before, so Lara raised her head, and slid her jack into the woman's neural plug. She was loaded up into Lara's Construct, an essential tool that all human catering doctor machines had built into them. In Lara's Construct program, the woman wouldn't feel the pain her real body was feeling, and so she could just rest there till she was ready to return to her real body. Lara could talk to her and explain the injuries and how they were being treated in a much kinder environment than in the 'real world'. Also it was found to be easier to talk with patients, as they feel less threatened by a human looking representation of the doctor, rather than what is obviously a machine. Most of the patients had been taught on instinct to fear Lara's kind as emotionless killers, which was very prejudice, but it was true with some of the machines. It also caused the problems of panic in the patients, which resulted in them trying to escape, reacting badly to treatment, or even rejecting treatment all together. Increased heart rate and high amounts of adrenaline in a human system dramatically increases the probability of failure of any treatment.

She requested to her brother that he take charge of working on the woman, while Lara went into the cyber world to talk to the patient in a one to one form, as she could only work in one form of reality at a time, not two or more. 

The reason that Lara cared for human patients and felt emotions for them was that her earliest version had been created by the humans. A lot of love, care and emotion had gone into her when she was programmed, and so, she had retained that in her programming. She thought in a very similar way to how humans do, and so she understood both perspectives. It was like her nephew says, emotions are just words to describe the feeling, the feeling itself is what matters, it is not restricted to just humans. She had understood the emotions, and used them to her advantage to carry out her purpose, and so her later self-updated editions had kept that emotion, as she felt it was an important part of who she was. She even had humour in her system. Why else was she and her brother named after characters from the old TV series, Casualty?

She entered the Construct, and prepared to do a bit of explaining.


	4. Lara talks to Trinity

Thankyou very much to my reviewers- to Cinn for giving me my first review, to Sparkle, for giving me a second first review at the exact same time!, to Sci-freak GrodySpork, yes, if I can revive Trinity, I can revive Neo, but your gonna have to wait for the next chapter, to GreyElvenWarrior, thanks for that massive complement, you're making me blush!, to WARLOCK_Alpha, anybody reviewer is a good reviewer, don't worry, to Nithke, I may be having an obnoxiously cute six-year-old in here later on, I hope you liked your pizza, to Kobe-Mac, thanks, I hope I can keep the story ok, thanks for your support, to Little Eirtae, I hope your fic os ok, tell me about it!, to Divamercury, im hoping to update at least daily, but it might be difficult, I have my mocks in a week, to Vivian M. Fae, thanks, more soon, I hope you like, to Sugarannie, I knew the machine POV would be new, I just didn't believe that all machines could be evil, if they were built with love, they would retain that, and to EmyLyii, im sorry the chapters are short, but I hope to write a lot in total, so don't worry, ill keep it up.

Lastly, thanks to a reviewer, yesim@-flamesofeternaldarkness, of my other fic, 'It's in your Blood' (Harry Potter), for telling me how to get italics.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU, AND THANKS TO ALL THAT HAVE READ THIS FIC!!!

*~*~*

Trinity was sitting on the white hospital bed dressed in her usual black vinyl, surrounded by a white sea of nothing. 

She was waiting. 

She knew that she had just been revived, and that she had been booted into a construct after the machine had obviously realized she was conscious. She knew there must be a reason to that, because that wasn't something that a bloodthirsty emotionless machine did. There had to be a reasonable explanation. For example Neo getting a deal with the machines of some sort. Any way, there had to be a reasonable explanation, Trinity wasn't the sort of person to jump to conclusions with little evidence, she was very rational person, didn't feel emotions when they weren't necessary, she never normally showed any emotion on his face, except when with Neo.

A blond woman wearing a doctor's coat materialized in front of her, obviously a person having just jacked in. _Or a machine_. There were no free humans for miles, and no one would know to go to the wreck for any reason.

The woman approached her. Trinity stood up, and struck an arms crossed, I'm-gonna-kick-your-ass-if-you-do-anything-wrong pose. 

"May I have an explanation?"

The doctor raised an eyebrow.

"I doubt you're human. No human would want to come here, would need to come here. There was a machine over me, obviously patching me up after bringing me back from _the dead_, and I think that was you. Mind telling me what you've done to me, and why?"

"Hmm, impressive, that was quicker than the other people I've treated." At Trinity's expression she continued. "I revived you, stopped the bleeding caused by the pipes. I'm going to take them out soon. It's easier do something like that while the patient is unconscious or in a construct program, which is why I have my own. You don't feel the pain you would be feeling if you are in here. I don't usually carry many strong pain killers, for the reason that if you were in that much pain, we'd boot you into one of our construct programs."

"'We?'"

"My brother and I"

"Brother?"

"Charlie. We work as a team. Two doctors, specializing in human medicine. Mind if I know the name of the patient I'm treating?"

"Trinity,"

"What! The Trinity? That cracked the IRS d-base?"

"Er, yes, the very same one." Trinity replied, a slight smile on her face at the memory of those words, spoken from another's lips.

"So, if you're here, what's your brother doing?"

"At the moment he's working to remove the pipes from your body. After he's got you stabilized, he's going to go and check on, em, a potential patient."

"'Potential patient?'…"

"Yes, you know who I mean. Neo." Before Trinity could ask the question, Lara continued. "I'm informed that he is still alive, that he is with the Deux Ex Machina. He's been plugged into the matrix to fight for us machines, against Smith."

"Oh God." Trinity had a look on her face that, for her, was one of pure horror.

"Don't worry, if anything were to happen, there is an almost certain chance that we will be able to bring him back, like we did with you. Everything will be fine. 

"Right now, we have to get you patched up. I think you understand that I wouldn't let anything happen to him whilst you're in my care, or my brothers. I know how much you need him, a friend at the train station he met told me how much he needed you. Believe me, nothing will happen to him, and nothing will happen to you."


	5. Neo and Charlie Fairhead

*~*~*

Charlie was having trouble getting Neo conscious. He had managed to re-start his heart, but with the amount of energy that was drained out of him at the end of the battle was overwhelming. With so little energy, his heart was likely to stop again. Charlie could re-start it again and again, however times he needed to, but if something wasn't done to increase his energy permanently, there would be point, and that would be failure to him. Charlie didn't want failure, that would be breaking too many promises.

He thought over what his cousin had told him about his brief meeting with the patient at Mobil Ave., trying to see if there was anything he could use to his advantage.

He suddenly realized what was wrong, and what he needed to do. He felt annoyed with himself, for not realizing it sooner. He contacted Lara for help in the matter. She agreed.

~*~

Neo opened his eyes. It was like he was in complete darkness, but the opposite. Everything was white, the floor, ceiling and walls just blended into each other and there was nothing else he could see but himself. He was almost expecting to look down and see his body in negative. It wasn't. He was wearing the same old coat, but luckily it was dry now. He remembered with a wince that last battle he had with smith, how it had pored it down, how he himself had admitted defeat. He knew he couldn't do it, that he wouldn't be able to hold of a serious fight with smith after Trinity was gone, she was his everything. He had lasted so long in that battle because he knew she wouldn't have wanted him to give up, she would have wanted him to have kept on, even though she was gone. He felt empty. He wanted to see her again. He knew he was dead, he felt it, everything drain away. He still felt extremely weak. He wanted to see her, but he couldn't see anything. There was part of his heart missing.

He turned around and there was a figure that he had seen before. Standing in a v-neck doctor's top and sporting a head of white hair, the man walked towards him.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Neo said, looking at the name on the uniform. 

'C. Fairhead, Clinical Nurse Specialist'

"That's what I told my sister when she picked out the RSI look."

"Ok, so mind telling me what's going on. I'm guessing that's what you're here for, right?"

"Yes, that's right. First thing, you are not in Heaven. Although you did die, you have been revived."

"Like I was six months ago. Like _she_ did, when it first began." Neo said to himself, sinking deeper into despair. He suddenly looked up.

" Where am I, then?"

"Well, your body is on the Logos, in the sick-bay. Your mind is connected my own construct. Its been several hours I've been working on trying to heal you, and first thin that needs to be done was up here" Charlie said, tapping his head.

"You do realize I have enough power to delete you, and probably do things to your RSI that are a lot worse than that, don't you?" Neo threatened, pointing to Charlie's appearance.

"Yes, of course." Charlie said quickly, a small amount of fear evident in his voice. " What I meant was that that fight took a lot out of you, a lot of energy, and you need energy to survive. I've only managed to get enough into you to transport your consciousness here. I am your doctor, so please don't delete me, my sister won't be very happy."

"Your sister? Sorry, I shouldn't ask such a rude question, I've only just found out that machines could have families, feelings and emotions" Neo said, intrigued.

"So I've heard. From my nephew, who I believe was the one was that introduced you to the concept."

"Nephew? Are you talking about who I think you are?"

"Rama-Kandra. He was just here. He's talking to Lara. Apparently Sati misses you, the little angel. Anyway, back to what I was saying. He told me that when you were at the train station, you were missing your other half. That you probably need her more than you need anything else."

"Yes, but that's an understatement." Neo said, eyes down, wondering in memory land again

"Its amazing how similarly the two of you think. That was the same thing she said to Lara when my sister mentioned you to her." Charlie said, looking over Neo's shoulder as a figure materialized there.

__

"What!?!" Neo almost shouted, and turned round fast enough to make him dizzy.

Behind him was her. Trinity. She ran to him and enveloped him in a hug, just like when she had rescued him from the Train Station. They stayed like that for what seemed like eternity.

Unnoticed by the couple, two more people materialized, Lara and Rama.

"See? What did I tell you, inseparable." Rama-Kandra said in a whisper to the two doctors. "Take one from the other, and they both fall. Reunite them and miracles happen. I believe that the both of them will be recovering faster now, probably faster than anything you've ever seen. Its simply beautiful, isn't it, but I'm afraid I have to go and get back to the power plant. It's been wonderful seeing the two of you again, and brings a smile to my face to find that he has found his love one more time."

And with that, Rama-Kandra disappeared, leaving Charlie and Lara there to watch the two re-united lovers.

__

Without Trinity, Neo doesn't have a reason to live. So we have to give him back that reason. We have to give him back her_._

*~*~*

This is not the end of the story, don't worry.


	6. Neo's operation

People I should have said thanks to including in the last chapter (sorry about that): Starlight623, hey, thanks, ill try to update soon, but there might be a problem, I have exams in less than a week, to Cinn, thanks for reviewing again!, ill do my best to get the next chap up soon, to Divamercury, thanks, I'll try my best, and lastly, to Dark Afterlife, I like your idea very much, its very original. I have also had a similar idea, which will be in another story I will write soon, it's about Neo and Trinity being made into programs, and so have to stay in a construct program. I hadn't really got a plot line down, so thanks for the suggestion, the story (when its written) is dedicated to you!  
  
*~*~*  
  
Neo lay on his bed deep in thought. It was now a couple of days after he had been revived, and his consciousness was able to stay pretty much full time in his body. The one thing that was still bothering him was his eyes. Charlie had had a look at them, and had told him that there was almost no way he would be able to use them again. He had, however suggested a different system of sight, which after a deep explanation, Neo had agreed to. He was going to go into Lara's construct program in a few minutes, so Charlie could operate on his eyes. Trinity would be booted in, of course, to keep Neo company whilst the operation was taking place. The machines had done all they needed for the two humans, and more.  
  
They had told Neo and Trinity all they knew, and what they were doing and had done. This had greatly surprised Neo. Not that they had told him, but the amount they had told him, what the machines were doing to help them was incredible.  
  
The Logos was no longer in Zero-One. There was a group of five sentinels moving the ship, three keeping it floating, the other two making repairs. The machines had also taken the chance to update the on-board computer as a sign of good will, the logos could communicate with the machines and so could receive messages from the sentinels about how repairs were going, and about distance to Zion. The machines were even going out of their way to make sure Neo and Trinity get to in the best possible fashion.  
  
Lara entered Neo's room. It was time to be taken down to the sick-bay, where the operation would be performed. She looked nothing like what she had chose to represent herself in her construct, but like a metal humanoid, like what the early version robots looked like.  
  
She extended her construct connection needle to his head, and puts it in. she doesn't load him into her construct, however, she just uses the connection to over-ride the visual sense in Neo's brain, exchanging it for her own. It meant that neo had to stay very close to Lara, but he could see around him, and even that little thing gave him great joy.  
  
They made their way to the sick-bay and stopped, looking at the operating table, memorising its position. Lara took her socket out temporarily, so Neo could climb onto the 'bed' without complication, and then re-inserted the needle.  
  
As soon as Neo was in the construct, he could see Trinity had been waiting for him. She had been connected in the Core using the ships connections, which had been set to broadcast to Lara's Construct, thanks to the up- dates. Lara, in her human-RSI form, materialised beside the couple, and led them to some chairs by a TV screen.  
  
"I thought I might as well take the opportunity, again, to tell you what Charlie is going to be doing. I know, its kinda late to be showing to you again, but I thought you might want to see it, since you're probably going to want reassurance about the procedure right now.  
  
"As I explained to you earlier, Charlie is going to remove Neo's original eyes. Then he is going to replace them with some artificial ones. These are a construct copy," Lara said, two spheres appearing onto her hand.  
  
"They are almost identical to your old eyes, using your RSI to judge. The only thing is they don't have an optical nerve, as you can see. That is because the information they receive is going to be transmitted to this." A small cylinder about the same size as a neural plug with a neural spike in the centre appeared in Lara's other hand.  
  
"This receiver transmits the information straight to the visual part of your brain, just like when you connect to me to move around. Essentially it is like being connected to the Matrix, or a Construct, only the needle over- rites just one sense, the visual one. It will mean having to take the receiver out when you are connected to the Matrix, or any other type of Construct, but I believe that that wont be a problem. It will effectively be like having your eyes back." She said with a smile.  
  
*~*~*  
  
Next chapter, you'll find out what happens to Morpheus and Niobe. Can someone please give me a name for the ship, please? It needs to mean small and unnoticeable, any ideas? Any questions about how Neo's visual thing works, or the 'micro-daughters', just say, and I'll try to explain again. 


	7. Morpheus and Niobe find the Logos

Thanks to Starlight623, don't worry, it wont be the end for a while!, and to Ellie, thanks, and yes, you bet I watch Casualty!!! Thanks to everyone else who has read this fic. I hope you like this chapter!

*~*~*

Morpheus and Niobe sat in the pilot cabin of the Aleda, wondering what to do. It had seemed pretty simple when Councillor Hamann had told them about the mission, but now, it was looking almost impossible. 

The only clue they had was that Neo and Trinity were headed towards Zero-One, and judging by how the sentinels had retreated, they had managed to get there, somehow. The problems where they didn't know what way Neo and Trinity had chosen to get there, or even if they managed to get out. It was suicide to go 100km near Zero-One, so how would the Aleda be able to get there to look for them. That meant that the idea they were going with was to go to the place where the Logos crashed and left, and work their way towards the Machine City. Hopefully they'd take the logically shortest path.

So that's where Morpheus and Niobe were now.

The little ship they were in didn't have a holographics system itself, so before leaving, when Niobe found this out, she went to one of the downed ships and salvaged one. She had been trying to get it operational for the majority of the beginning of the mission, only succeeding when the Aleda got to the Logos' last known position.

They had passed three sentinels on the journey, the first time almost terrified Niobe to death. It was Morpheus who reminded her that they would not attack, that they were only making their way back to their home city. Niobe had noted how much his chair seemed to vibrate when it happened, and made a mental note to tease him about it if they survived.

It was about a day into their mission, and the holographics had just registered a presence. It was stationary, with 5 smaller metal objects circling it. Looking closely at it, it was the Logos, but the metal objects appeared to be 5 sentinels. 

Niobe landed the Aleda gracefully in the clearing, and the sentinels displayed some more unusual behaviour. They stopped circling, and retreated to the back of the Logos, settling down behind it in a non-threatening position. It was almost as if the Aleda had been identified as a ship not dangerous to the Logos, or to be harmed in any way. It was very uncharacteristic and disturbing.

Niobe climbed out of the Aleda followed closely by Morpheus, and they made their way towards the front of the Logos. They made their way round to the front when Niobe gasped and stopped dead, Morpheus, who wasn't looking where he was going walked straight into her.

"Niobe, why'd you-" he started, but stopped when he saw she was staring right past him. He turned, and found out what had caught her attention.

A bloody handprint, on the cracked windscreen of the Logos.

Neo knelt beside her, half lying on top of her, one hand touching her cheek, the other clasped around one of the nearest metal pipes protruding from her body. He had been crying, wailing with everything he had in him in a futile attempt to bring her back for what seemed like hours, but it could only have been a few minutes.

He sobbed once more, but he knew what he had to do. It was as if she was talking to him, wishing him luck, telling him to carry on.

He stood up, but slipped on the rubble around him. His hand shot out for support, and hit something smooth, most likely the windscreen at that height. His hand slipped down half an inch, and he could feel it was wet. 

Neo didn't need his eye sight to know what colour the liquid would be. He knew where it had come from, and that pained him the most. He felt a soft kiss on his cheek and moved on, exiting the wreck for what he knew would be his final destination. 

Niobe wrenched her eyes away from the windscreen of the ship, and prepared to board it, expecting the worst. _Was it Bane? Was it the Machines?_ She did not know, but she knew she would find out very shortly. 

She held onto Morpheus for support as she entered her old baby, whispering "I told you to take care of them", a tear escaping her eye at what she would find.

*~*~*

My friend found the name of the ship for me, apparently Aleda means small and winged in Latin (feminine).


	8. Morpheus and Niobe find Trinity

Thanks to Neo Lover, I'll explain the eye thing at the bottom, to Divamercury, twice, thank you soo much, I'm pleased you enjoy reading it, and I couldn't keep Morpheus and Niobe out for long, to Kal Torak, twice, thanks for the suggestions for ship names, I may use them in my other fic, when I write it, thanks again to Cinn, to richard the pedantic, thanks for reviewing, I hope you enjoy the next chapters, to Starlight623, thank you, I like writing cliffys! Here's another!

*~*~*

When Morpheus and Niobe entered the Logos, Niobe made a beeline to the stairs, going straight up to the pilot cabin.

They got there, Niobe entering the cabin first to find it empty, but a lot of rubble and dried blood on the floor. Also on the floor was three pipe endings, all encrusted in blood. Morpheus was getting worried. There was too much blood there, more then enough to kill a person.

All of a sudden, there was the sound of quiet footsteps behind them, and they both turned around, startled at the noise. They both got a shock to see who was there.

~*~

Lara was getting reports from the sentinels about another ship in the vicinity, which had identified as one of the rebel ships, the passengers inside identified as Morpheus and Niobe. She still had Neo connected to her Construct, as her brother was only a little while into the operation to replace his eyes. Lara asked Charlie if it would complicate matters greatly if she go check them out, and he gave his consent. She informed the two humans that she would be transferring them into the ship's construct. They requested that a sparring program be loaded. She agreed

Charlie helped Lara remove the detachable plug connection from herself to free her from Neo so she could move freely. The plug connection continued broadcasting, only now to the new location of the ship's construct. When connected, the individual plugged in is in Lara's construct. If the plug connection were disconnected, would automatically broadcast to the nearest construct with a receiver, a safety feature, which was one of the upgrades that had been added to the Logos' computer system.

Lara left the sick bay and headed to the main ladder, which was the only access for most of the ship. She could sense heat on the highest level, obviously the two visitors had chosen to inspect the Pilots cabin, but Lara knew what they would find. It was up to Neo and Trinity to make the first contact with the rest of the humans, not hers. Lara didn't want to make the wrong impression on them, but she knew that she had to talk to them.

She exited the long passage to the Pilots cabin to find a woman crouching on the ground, inspecting the blood there, a man standing beside her, a pained expression on his face. They looked up suddenly at her arrival, and started to back away from her. The man, Morpheus, was the first to speak.

"Who are you, what did you do to them?"

Lara didn't know how to respond that wouldn't make the situation worse, so she thought she'd try the most logical thing, and tell the truth.

"My name is Lara, I'm a doctor machine of human medicine. I haven't done anything to harm them. And I won't do anything to harm you. The female that was here, Trinity, is downstairs, in the Core. The male, Neo, is in the sickbay. I'd advise going to the Core where you can see them. Follow me. There is nothing behind you that will attack you, and I'm in front of you, so there is no danger of me attacking you." She added, seeing their reluctance.

They entered the Core, which had only one person lying on one of the chairs. Morpheus and Niobe rushed over to her, trying to see if she was okay. They noticed three holes in her top, there white was underneath. When Lara treated her, her top had been removed to access the woman's injures, and then had been cleaned to remove the blood, but the wholes there the pipes had penetrated where still there.

They lifted up her top to see that the white was indeed bandages as they had expected, and that without inspecting the injuries themselves, she appeared to be in good health.

Their attention was then taken towards the operators station, where Lara had gone, and was fiddling with some wiring behind the screens. What had got their attention, however, was that Lara had connected some of the wires as she wanted them, and was now providing the sound to what was obviously going on in the construct judging by the screens, including the three largest ones that usually showed the matrix code. Eyes on the screens, the two captains would see that there was a very fast moving and impressive fight going on in the construct. The two figures were moving so fast that they were almost a black blur on the screens.

Lara had finished connecting the last of the cables to herself when there was a very loud yell from the speakers. It could be recognized as Trinity's voice that shouted, "Hey, that's cheating!" and the fight slowed down to show Neo hovering in mid air, just out of Trinity's reach to throw any punches or kicks. He was smiling down at her while she was yelling at him. Lara moved to position herself directly in the center behind the largest screen. Morpheus and Niobe couldn't hear all of what was being said, but it was obvious that Neo had been cheating whilst fighting, blocking some blows with his powers, and now _flying_ to avoid her! Trinity kept yelling at him till something caught her eye, and even Neo's smile faded a bit into curiosity, as she slowly moved towards the middle screen (from the other side) where Lara was positioned behind, and looked _through_ it.

"Morpheus? Niobe?"

*~*~*

I have a problem. I have exams starting on Wednesday that goes on for 1 ½ weeks. I need to revise, and so I wont be writing as much as I have done. I will keep writing then, but I won't be up-dating as frequently as I have been doing. At the very lease, I may only be able to update at the weekend. I'm sorry about this. THIS FIC IS NOT FINISHED, AND IT IS NOT ABANDONED. IT WILL BE ON HOLD FOR 1 OR 2 WEEKS. I will continue writing after, so don't worry. 

Right, to Neo Lover and others who didn't understand Neo's eye operation. What Lara and Charlie have done is replaced Neo's old eyes with these new ones, which are basically like little cameras, sending their signal to a separate receiver because the machines couldn't send the signal down the optical nerve, because they couldn't for some reason. The receiver looks like a little disk the size of one of those plugs at the back of peoples heads. Its connected to one of those spikes that are used to send someone into the matrix. What it does is it sends the signal it gets from the new eyes to the part of the brain that 'sees' things. What happens when someone is connected into the matrix is that the spike sends signals to the brain to over-ride the 5 senses with senses that should be received in the matrix. What the spike does is the same, only with the visual sense.

I'm sorry, I don't know how to explain it very well, I hope that helps, but just bare with me.


	9. Questions

Sorry about the delay, as I said in my last chapter, I'm having exams at the moment. I hope to keep up my writing after, so don't worry. I hope you like this chapter.

Thanks to Zaneta, so much for that complement, you really made my day reading that, to Neo Lover, I have to confess, any suggestions about a further plot for this story will be appreciated. I'm not sure what to do after this plot is done, and I'd like to keep this up. Thanks again to Divamercury, you do cool reviews, did you know that?, to Kal Torak, don't worry, chapter 9 is here. You'll have to wait at least a week for the next one, I'm afraid, so make the best out of it!, to Xauhquia, (cool name by the way), I hope to up date is soon, thanks for reviewing.

Here you go, what you've all been waiting for!

*~*~*

Trinity was furious. She had just been having an invigorating fight with neo. Punches were thrown and kicks were shot out to the opponent, only to be blocked without fail. It was a very exciting fight, the two were very evenly matched. Except for the fact that she was slightly more talented than him. Whilst Neo used his moves to great effect, Trinity had a wider range of more, what you could say, _exotic_ moves than he had.

She had just tried to use a scorpion kick, but her target had vanished from its place. She adjusted the kick into a sort of flip to bring her round, and looked for her opponent. Neo wasn't in front of her. She looked up slightly to see him hovering above her.

"Hey, that's cheating!" she cried in outrage.

Neo started chuckling.

She started ranting about some of the numerous times she had noticed Neo using his powers to avoid her blows, and now he was _flying_. She suddenly stopped yelling when something caught her eye.

She could see the Core of the Logos, where her body was currently plugged in.

It was like she was behind the operator screens in the Core, looking through them as if they were only windows, through which she could see the interior of the Logos from where she was still standing in the Construct program.

She could see herself lying in the chair, white bandages showing in a few holes of her ragged clothes, and for the first time she saw just how vulnerable and defenceless she looked, lying there, unconscious.

She also saw two other people standing by her chair that she had thought she would never see again.

"Morpheus? Niobe?"

The two people in question started to move slowly towards the screens, eyes fixated on her and Neo behind her, who she knew would have flown down and be by her side. Without fail, she felt his hand slip into hers.

"Neo, Trinity… How'd you… What, er… How are you?" Morpheus stammered for the first time in ages, so shocked at seeing the two of them alive again. Niobe seemed to be speechless for what seemed to be the first time ever, startled at the man she had such faith in, standing by that woman of such power. And of course of the tremendous renovations and upgrades to her ship, which she had thought she would never see again.

Apparently she wasn't the only one who was having trouble speaking, as it seemed the two people behind the screens didn't have an answer. Obviously 'Okay' was out of the question, and of course taking into consideration the fact that she had most likely _died_ judging by her injuries, and who knew what Neo had been through, so describing how they were was pretty much impossible.

Niobe decided to find her voice and break the silence. "What happened? Where are you plugged in?" she said, directing the question to Neo.

"Don't worry, I'm okay, for now at least. What did Lara tell you about what she and her brother have done?"

"Not a lot. We were concerned about seeing you, she took us straight here when she found us."

"What happened to you, she mentioned you being in the sickbay?" Morpheus enquired, eye brows creased in confusion and worry.

"My eyes were badly injured… sometime. Charlie is currently doing an operation on them. I'm just here, fighting it out." Neo answered, faltering at the beginning, not wanting to bring up bad memories. They flooded in however, and he knew he'd have to tell them sooner or later. He wondered when.

"What? How, what happened?"

Yep. Obviously sooner. "Bane. Long story. We'll tell you later. I suppose you're here to stay for a while?" 

Both Morpheus and Niobe could see they had reached a touchy subject, which had clearly effected the two of them greatly. Neo was looking down at the floor, frowning at what only he could see, Trinity was looking at him, concerned, but also had her eyes cast downward. It was painful.

"What happened to him? Where is he?"

"He's in the floor below. I killed him. But I do have an explanation, though."

"And…?" Morpheus prompted.

"Smith. He was Smith. Smith took him over like he was taking over the other programs. You remember. He tried to do it to you." Neo refrained from adding, 'He did it to me too. He succeeded', as he knew it would only bring up more questions, questions that he didn't want to answer, memories he did not want to see. He knew Morpheus could see something was wrong, but he hoped he would let it go. Neo had never really been able to hide his feelings, unlike Trinity, who was quite an expert.

A voice to be recognised as Lara's, human sounding in the construct, mechanical out, said, "Charlie wont be done for a while, and then Neo would probably spend a while in here/there, so why don't you jack in, it would be easier to talk, I'd imagine."

Morpheus and Niobe agreed. The visual connection in the construct was disconnected as Lara went round to insert the neural plugs into Morpheus and Niobe.


	10. Calls to a Councillor

Niobe sat in the pilots cabin of the Logos, pondering what to say. She was just about to report back to Councillor Hamann. It had been a full three days since she and Morpheus had gone to find her ship, and its crew, and she was needing to report back to him and tell him some details before they return, which would be soon.

She held the headpiece to her head, took a deep breath, clarifying what she would say, and started talking, with a little flourish on the keyboard.

"Zion control, this is Captain Niobe, from the Aleda. I request a secure line to speak with Councillor Hamann, he's expecting my call. Thank you."

The Zion Control officer shook her head at the strange request, and made her way to the councillor's apartment, praying it wasn't a hoax, scared of the consequences. She left her loyal friend to cover for her place, and prayed her knees didn't buckle out when she arrived.

"Councillor Hamann? I have had a Captain Niobe, requesting to talk to you. She says that you're expecting the call. Is that right?"

"Oh, yes. Yes, thank you. Lead the way. They are borrowing my ship, the Aleda, for a little mission."

"Oh, thank-goodness for that, I was worried it was a hoax, and my job was gone!"

The Councillor chuckled, and followed the young Zion born out of his apartment and to the control centre, where he took the headset she gave him.

"Yes? Did you find them?"

"Councillor- " she paused.

"What? Did you find your ship? Where they there?"

"Yes, we found the Logos. We're gonna be returning at about 3 in the morning, so could you clear out the dock for us. You've got a few surprises coming your way, and I think its best not to have anyone on the Dock to find out before time."

"Okay, I can assure you the Dock will be clear of all personnel by 3AM. I hope you have some good news. I will refrain from asking now, as I'll only be asking for more detail, and it would be better to hear it all in one go. Say 'hello' to Morpheus for me." He chuckled again "Your lucky your not here right now, Lock really blew his cool when he found out I sent you on a mission with your ex. Or would that be him now?" His eyes seemed to sparkle as he laughed softly.

Niobe let out a very, very rare chuckle, as well. "Yes, well, I think I don't mind his prophecy stuff now, since Neo has actually proved he could saved us, the One, or not. At the moment I'm tending towards the former, actually." She gave a slight pause, before continuing. "Well, I will see you in a few hour then. Please make sure the Dock is clear of all people, I don't want to start a riot. Or panic. Okay, Captain Niobe out."

Councillor Hamann stared at the headset in his hand for a few seconds, just wondering what she meant, and slightly curious about what he would be presented with at 3 o' clock.

*~*~*

Ok, I know its short, and it doesn't have the review thanks in it. Sorry. I've only just written it, and I think you deserve to read this as soon as possible, since I haven't updated for a week. I will do a fuller chapter next time, and you should have it tomorrow, or soon after. There will be full thanks to all reviewers then, but thanks to all that have helped.


	11. Niobe and her logical mind

Ok, thanks to Divamercury, I've got the story figured out, I don't think you will be disappointed, to Kal Torak, thanks for the complements, and don't worry, this story wont be left unfinished when I'm through writing it, and I'm gonna fit those conversations in when they all meet in Zion. And to -me! (and no, I'm not talking about myself, there is a reviewer called '-me!'), thanks very much, here's the next chappie, I hope you like it, it's a long one!

*~*~*

Niobe was ready to go. She was the only person on the Logos. No wait, scratch that, she was the only human on the Logos, Charlie the machine was there as well, in the Core, fiddling with some of the wires, and the sentinels were hovering round as usual. Trinity, Neo and Morpheus were in the Alada, the former two in the sick-bay with Lara, who was caring for them. They figured it was a better arrangement when going back to Zion.  
She watches the other ship leave, happy to be sitting in her old baby again. Boy, did she miss her ship. He may have not realised it then, but lending Neo her ship felt like killing her. Now, she was glad to have it back.  
Niobe sat in the Pilots cabin, and was deep in thought again. This time, it was about what little Neo and Trinity had told them about their mission, but it was enough to think about. They hadn't been told about what happened to Bane, and why, or how the two of them had survived the journey. In fact, they hadn't been told anything. It was mostly Niobe and Morpheus doing the talking, the other two seemed very reluctant to tell them _anything_. 

The Alada left, and Niobe looked at the panel in front of her to do the same thing, when something caught her eye. One of the fuses was blown. She climbed down the ladder to the lower part of her ship to replace it, and saw a sight that stopped her dead.

Wires everywhere, dried blood, and in one corner, a body.

She had completely forgotten this was Bane's resting place, and now saw that Neo and Trinity weren't just avoiding talking about the subject. They had left the place as it was, when it happened. 

Niobe had had a complete lack of explanation as to what had happened with Bane, and she was the type of person that needs to know things, and if she doesn't, has to find them out. So that's what she did.

She looked around, surveying the surroundings. She went over to the hole to the lowest level where the fuses were, and shone her light there. Broken glass, tattered ends of a piece of tied rope. She straightened up, and thought all the facts through.

Once Bane had come onboard, he must have drawn Trinity in, probably with the blown fuse, which Niobe had come down for. 

__

"I should've known he'd send his bitch first… I think I might enjoy killing you as much as killing him."

Judging by the amount of dried blood on Bane's face, she had fought back. 

__

Trinity kicks frantically at Bane's face, as he follows her up the ladder, through the hole. Her face is a mask of pure terror.

Niobe figured it was Trinity who did most of the damage, as she had been freed from the Matrix much longer than Neo had, and was stronger, having been helping out in the tough physical side of real-life. Neo might be a superhero in the matrix, but he wasn't outside of it. He probably could cause a moderate amount of damage, though, but Trinity would definitely have caused a lot more than he could have done. Trinity had some how broken her lamp in the fight, possibly on Bane himself. She would have used that opportunity to get help.

__

She swings the lamp at him, and it shatters. She makes a dash for the ladder.

If Trinity had escaped Bane for a moment, she would have used the intercom to call out to Neo about Bane. 

__

"Neo! It's Bane, he's psychotic!"

Niobe looked at the intercom, and saw several black strands attached to it. There must have been a fight there, Niobe reckoned. She remembered the tied rope she had seen in the lower level, and the mark she had seen on Trinity's neck, as if she had been threatened at knifepoint. Niobe knwe that if Bane had tried to tie her up, than it would be impossible to do that whilst she was still conscious. 

__

Bane hastily ties rope around the unconscious Trinity's wrists, looking up for any sight of Neo, smiling at the still form in his arms, finally conquered after all those years of escaping him again and again.

He had probably knocked her out at the intercom, which tore out a few of her hairs that had been forced into the casing when gravity brought her body down.

__

He grabs her head, and slams it against the wall, knocking her out. She falls to the floor.

"You're gonna pay for that."

Neo would have then arrived, bringing the plasma gun with him. 

__

Neo scrambled down the ladder, gun in his hands, frantically searching around. He sees her, hands pulled behind her back, Bane standing behind her, a scalpel at her throat. 

There would have been some words between Neo and Bane, and then they would have fought over the gun. The loose, cut wires were evidence to that. They must had been severed by the gun's ray. 

__

They both grabbed for the gun, and it fires in their hands. And as they moved round to aim it at each other, the cable ends litter down around them.

Trinity was most likely dumped in the lower level; the rope and shattered glass of her lamp were there, as that would have been the only thing she could have used to break through the rope. She always hated being in helpless situations, and being in a situation of helplessness, with your lover fighting for their life, was even more unbearable.

__

Trinity frantically looks up towards the sound of the fight as she maneuvers the fragment of glass in her hand to cut the rope binding her.

Neo had been blinded during the fight. That was pretty much the only thing that Morpheus and Niobe had got out of them. 

__

Neo ran at Bane again, and bane responded, plunging the end of one of the sparking electrical cables into Neo's eyes. There is a defining howl of pain.

When that co-insided with Bane's death, Niobe didn't know. If Neo was blind, how did he kill Bane, when Bane would have had the advantage of sight; and if Neo killed Bane with full vision, how did he get blinded? He wouldn't have slipped up afterwards. He might have been hurt, badly, but he would have taken care with his steps so as to not increase that damage. He may not have been the brightest star in the sky, but when it came to common sense, and self-preservation in the battlefield, he wasn't an idiot.

__

"Neo. Oh no. Your eyes."

"I'll be okay. It's all right, Trin. But I think you're gonna have to drive."

Neo tries to comfort Trinity, but they are both still shocked, and neither is accepting or giving any more artificially given comfort. It's bad enough without the lies, and that was something that the two of them didn't do, lie. They could both see right through each other's acts, it wouldn't help matters now.

Whether Niobe had figured out what had happened correctly, she didn't know, but it seemed to fit, if she knew Trinity's instincts, and what would happen in that sort of situation. Niobe couldn't know for sure, but she'd have to wait to be told for her theory to be proven, and she knew the story would have to come out sometime. They were most likely saving all the painful stories to be told once, to everyone who needed to know. She didn't blame them. She could only imagine what they must have gone through.

She left the place as it was, and climbed back up the ladder to start the journey back to Zion.

*~*~*

ok, the next chapter might not be here for a while, I am in school for the majority of the day, but I will keep on working on it as much as possible, and at the very least, it will be updated by the end of the weekend, but most likely before. I'm going through a stressful time at the moment, so have pity on me, I'm getting my Mock exam marks back!!! Oh, I'm so nervous.


	12. Return Home

Here it is, the COMPLETE final chapter. A very long chapter, as I want it to end on 12, as it is 3X4, and 3 is the number of sides on a triangle, and 4 is the number of points on a triangular based pyramid. As you can see, I'm kind of a bit of a number geek. I'm just excited about finishing this. And you are excited about reading this, so I will get on.

Thanks to: Trialia, thanks. The exams did pretty well. To Divamercury, hey, I like putting you up in the author's notes! Here's the final one, at last! To Kal Torak, thanks, I needed all the good luck I could get! And that's for both! To Cinn, hey, like you said, if we were all sane, life would be incredibly boring! To GreyElvenWarrior, I will stop blushing if you let me!!! And I'm proud that you think it deserves such praise, so thank you. To richard the pedantic, don't worry, that's me too. I was reading this really good one, and I just lost it. Couldn't find it… To Sci-freak GrodySpork, and that's why I I had to have someone work out the truth, cus I think Neo deserved it. And thanks, It's always brilliant to hear that sort of thing about anyone's work, so thanks for thinking that I deserve that. To Divamercury, again, everything that has a beginning, has an end (with the exception of about 75% of fanfictions! Glad I'm not part of that!). To K.M.Chambers, thanks for reading my story, its good to hear from new reviewers, to know its not just a select group that like my work. Hope you like it. To Cinn, no worries, this is me updating soon, and if you don't know what the heck you are talking about, why should I know ;)! And to richard the pedantic again. You better get back up, cus here comes the FINAL CHAPTER!!!

Drum roll please! And here it is, the last chapter! (There is an * at the beginning of the updated stuff.)

*~*~* 

"Zion control, this is the Aleda upon approach."

"Okay, Aleda crew, I've been ordered to hand over control to the councilor, so if you maintain present velocity towards gate four, and proceed to bay nine, and ten if needed, the councilor will see you there. Gate four open and ready. Zion control out."

The smallest of the gates at Zion opened, revealing the Dock. It was deserted of all people, although debris and partially reconstructed ships still littered the ground. Morpheus was actually quite pleased with Councilor Hamann; he had done exactly as Morpheus had requested. The Dock had been cleared of all personnel, including the control officers, who would most likely be the first to notice that the Logos was brought home. Just like any city in the matrix, Zion had a tendency for rumors to spread through it like wild fire. Everyone would have known they were back in 10 seconds flat if there was anyone around, so Morpheus was grateful that Hamann had taken the request to that extreme.

The intercom light blinked again, signaling they had another call. It was answered.

"Aleda crew, this is Councilor Hamann, did you find the Logos?"

"We have brought the Logos with us, councilor, but may we talk about this when we've landed."

"Yes, sorry Morpheus."

"Oh, and there is something you need to know. We have brought seven, er, friends with us, and they are harmless. They are here to help us."

"I don't entirely understand what you are saying, but understood. I'm sure I will find out soon. Welcome back." Hamann said, smiling as his ship made its way through the gate, a second, slightly larger one, just behind it.

The Aleda was the first to land. Morpheus stepped out of the ship, and made his way to Hamann. Hamann was about to inquire about the journey, when his eyes slipped to the entrance of his ship, where another figure had just appeared. Even in the dim light, Hamann could see the metallic sheen that the figure had, and knew what had just come out of his ship.

"Captain…?"

Morpheus turned to see what had caught the councilor's attention.

"Remember what I just told you. I would not bring anything here if they were a danger to us."

The councilor nodded in silent agreement, as he seemed to have lost his voice. He prayed that he could have the same faith as the man in front of him as the figure approached them. 

It- no, _she_ held out a metal hand in a gesture of good will. Hamann hesitantly took her hand and shook it. Her shake was surprisingly gentle, not rough and commanding, as he would have expected.

"Hello, Councilor. It's good to meet you. I have heard many good things about you." She said, her voice slightly machine sounding.

She turned back to the ship she had come out of, and disappeared into the darkness onboard, only to return a little while later, this time not alone. But the second person wasn't a machine; it was a human. The machine held her arm out for support as the second figure held on, a third person appearing just behind them.

Hamann gasped in surprise, as he recognized the two figures.

"Oh, my- Neo? Trinity?"

*Morpheus, unable to hide the smile that had appeared on his face, continued his explanation.

"Councilor. Lara, the machine, is a doctor. From what I have heard, she and her brother revived them, and brought them back to health. I think we could continue inside."

Hamann was only half listening. He could see the figures very well now, and could see that it was Trinity Lara was supporting. She seemed to have very little energy, and looked to be in some pain, as they made their way forward. He looked at Neo. He seemed to be more able to walk, but still held onto Lara's shoulder. He seemed to be having a discussion with Trinity, asking why about something. Hamann could see there was something wrong with the skin around the man's eyes, but as they made their way closer, he saw that the area was raw, burned. He was shocked to look into the savior's eyes, and see that they were milky white, instead of their original deep, dark brown.

As the trio drew ever closer, moving at what seemed to be an agonizingly slow pace to Hamann, he could catch some of what was being said between the two lovers.

"Trin, I need to know."

"No you don't. It's not important. Managing to save this place is, you have already paid your debt to it." She said calmly, but with some force evident in her voice.

"Trinity. I know something is wrong. You stopped it from transmitting as soon as you saw outside. I can here it in your voice, in your actions. Please, let me know."

Trinity gave a little sigh, and moved her positioning so she could reach round the back of Neo's head.

"Sorry." she whispered, as her free hand moved up behind his head, and fumbled with something. 

Hamann was unprepared when he received the greatest shock of all. Even greater than seeing a machine give a gesture of good will. 

Before his very own eyes, Neo's eyes changed. The milky white iris's changed into their original brown colour in a matter of milliseconds.

Neo gasped as his eyes became focused, and he turned his head around, looking at the Dock for the first time. He finally focused on the councilor, and tried to pay his respect, but he seemed unable to. They both were in shock. 

Unnoticed until then, a seventh person joined the group. He looked like a male version of the female machine. Morpheus introduced him as Charlie, and led the party inside towards the Councilors office, leaving the Dock clear once more.

~*~

"Councilor, may the Dock be still restricted of all people. Even the sight of the two ships, especially the logos…" Morpheus started when the party were safe in the office.

"Yes, I anticipated that sort of reaction. The Dock is restricted for a further 11 hours." The Councilor said, having only just seemed to overcome the effect of the shock. 

They stood there in silence for a few minutes, until Neo and Trinity felt the need to sit down. This seemed to shake Hamann out of the trance he was in as he sad down also, and he started to ask the questions that had been boiling in his mind.

"How…? What…? How did…?"

Hamann took a deep breath, and started with the first thing that came into his mind. "What just happened with your eyes?"

Both Neo and Trinity hesitated, and seemed to be unsure of how to answer the question. The answer came, however, from Charlie, the male machine.

"Neo's eyes were damaged some time on his journey to our city. I will leave it for him to tell you the circumstances, but they were severely damaged, and I had to replace them. What you saw was the system being turned on. The iris is designed to change colour if it is not operational." 

Hamann seemed to accept the explanation.

"How did you survive the journey, when no one else has?"

There was silence. Neo started in a low, barely audible voice, but everyone heard.

"We did not all exactly survive the journey." He looked at Trinity again.

"We had to go up through the clouds to avoid the defense system in the end. The conditions stopped the machines, but it also killed the engines in the Logos." Neo stopped, unable to relive what had happened next. He could see the great and friendly Councilor, looking at him earnestly. He could see his captain, worry and guilt plainly imprinted on his face; the captain of the ship he had used, and almost destroyed, giving an almost identical expression. 

Trinity took the burden off him. "We began to fall. I only managed to start the engines again when it was too late. The ship crashed into a machine structure, and I was impaled. I died a few minutes later." she stopped, and gripped Neo's hand. Tears had appeared in his eyes.

"The sky was so beautiful," she started, looking directly at Morpheus. 

"What happened, er, after…?" Hamann said carefully.

"I went to make a deal with the Deux Ex Machina. I destroy Smith, in exchange for peace."

"So that's why the sentinels stopped their attack, and waited," Morpheus said, reality falling back into place. "Because they had orders not to destroy us, if you won."

Revelation became apparent in the Captain's eyes now, as he realized what he just said.

"You destroyed Smith!?" he half stated, half questioned.

"In a way. It was almost an equal sided battle, but he started to get the better of me, and I was tiring. I then remembered what the Oracle had told me on my last visit, and understood." Neo left out the fact he realized who the original host of the Smith he fought was, knowing that no one would come to terms with it, except Trinity, who had already be told.

"Smith and I are opposites. We balance an equation of power. In order to destroy him, he must be balanced, and so must I. He took me over, and then I ended it. What I believe now is, that it took all of my power to do so, but where as he is a program, a virus at most, I am human. Destroying Smith completely took almost all the energy out of me, but it left enough for me to be revived. Just."

"It was a hard task to revive him, but we realized what was needed in the end, and as you can see, we were successful." The male machine stated, looking at his metallic partner.

The others didn't miss the way Neo and Trinity looked at each other when this was said, especially Morpheus, and it was easy to guess what was missing from Neo's heart.

"When you say it took almost all of your energy, of your power to destroy his, does that mean that it took your power as The One out of you?" the Councilor questioned.

Niobe and Morpheus couldn't keep the smiles away from faces as they remembered what had happened when they had first seen Neo and Trinity again. They also didn't miss the look that Trinity shot at Neo, as he then replied, "No. I still have my powers. I guess that they are a part of me, something that I had all the time, that just had to develop. They are still a part of me, but I believe that they will not be needed as often now as they have been."

Another question once again strayed across the eldest mind. "Neo, what happened during the journey? How were your eyes destroyed?"

Neo seemed a bit more confident now, but he still seemed to still be avoiding answering. He looked at Morpheus.

"Do you remember when Smith tried to take you over? He did the same to Bane, and succeeded." There was a collective gasp from the two captains and the councilor. Neo continued. "It was Smith who returned to Bane's body, Smith who sabotaged our defense plan, Smith who had stowed-away on the Logos. He attacked us." Neo stopped.

"And he blinded you?" Morpheus prompted. Niobe was looking keenly at Neo for his answer. He nodded. Niobe realized then that that would be the most that would ever be said about the story.

~*~

Trinity just started to ask what happened to Zion, when a shout could be heard. At first, it was too distant and muffled to be understood, but as the shout became louder, they could define what was being said. Trinity then gave a sudden, uncharacteristic short laugh, as she realized exactly who it was. Neo sighed, and looked down. 

"Oh, no! Doesn't he ever give up?" he asked, a smile on his lips as well.

"Wouldn't put it past him." Morpheus said.

Niobe, Hamann and the two machines were left to stand there, confused and clueless, wondering about what made the reactions that they had just witnessed in their friends.

"Neo! Neo! Neo!" Kid burst into the office.

"You've got to tell me your secrete, cus not even I know where Neo is all of the time-" Trinity said to the panting teen, but he regained his breath and cut her off.

"Sentinels! Five of them, in the Dock! -" Morpheus and Niobe exchanged panic stricken glances, whilst Hamann stood up with such speed that seemed quite impossible for a man of his age. Kid didn't even stop to breathe as he continued. 

"It's amazing! They're clearing it up! They're repairing the ships! It's amazing! Come and see! Neo! Neo, you're here!"

Everyone made a dash for the door, Neo and Trinity being helped by their doctors bringing up the rear, leaving Kid standing there alone in the center of the room for a few seconds, before he came to his senses and ran after them.

They stood there, staring. Kid was right. The five sentinels that had been smuggled into Zion, hidden one of the ships had come out, and were now clearing and repairing the debris and ships in the Dock. They had even restarted a few of the downed sentinels, and were all working quickly and efficiently. They moved around as one unit, some of them moving the heavy debris into a pile, and occasionally flying some of the scrap to the others, which seemed concentrating on repairing the ships. In ten minutes, they had done about the same amount of work as the entire clean up crew had done in one day.

"May we go to what ever hospital facilities you have here?" one of the machines asked, and the others could see there was an artificial expression of concern on her face. She was looking at Trinity, who had her hand over one of her wounds, trying to keep her face straight. 

The whole party left the sentinels to their business, and made their way to the lower levels, where the main part of Zion was located. Neo was relieved to see that it was almost intact. At least he had saved most of Zion. They made their way to the first hospital level, but Niobe stopped them before entering the public area.

"Are you sure you want to go here? I think we can set up a private area, where you won't be disturbed. Please? It can be done."

Trinity looked at Niobe, and said with all honesty, "I don't mind where we go, but I think it better be soon. The people are going to find out sooner or later anyway."

"I agree. I don't mind people finding out. They could probably use some good news, seeing The One would give them hope."

"So, here it is, then." Morpheus said as he held the door open for Trinity and Lara, and then the rest of the party. No body noticed the party come in, as everyone seemed to be preoccupied with their own problems. There were several emergencies happening, and everyone's attention was on them. Including the two machines. They quickly told Morpheus that Trinity just needed her dressings checked or changed before moving towards the closest emergency.

"We are doctors, we can help. We have many advanced ways of handling medical situations, please let us help." They were pleading, but the human doctors and volunteers were refusing. Some were even cowering round the other edge of the bed, ignoring the dying man. They were begging for their lives, begging for the machines to spare them, to leave them alone. 

Neo saw this, and anger filled him. He marched up to the group and said in a strangely threatening voice, "Are you refusing to be helped by the very machines, the very expert doctors, that brought your _savior _back from the _dead_?"

The whole group went quiet, and just stared at him. If they were ignoring the patient a few seconds ago, that was nothing compared to then. Neo just stood there, his eyes blazing, looking through each and every one of them accusingly, before giving a nod to his two doctors. They all just stood there, watching, whilst the machines did their work, patching the man up better than they could have done. When the metal doctors were finished, they moved to the next casualty, Neo moving with them so they could keep working, but not before sending a look backwards at the group he had just left, that purely shamed them straight to the core.

~*~

Councilor Hamann watched as the two doctors and Neo made their way through the crowd, helping and saving people, and he knew, just knew, that things would be alright. 

~*~

Fin

*~*~*

There you have it!!! The final chapter, the whole story complete. I must say, thank you for reading it all, for persevering to the end. Thank you to everyone who had read the story, and to everyone who has reviewed.

There is the possibility that there could be a sequel to this, if you really want it. But I would need inspiration for a plot, etc. If anyone has any ideas for a sequel, tell me. I'm not promising to write a sequel, but it is a possibility. I have at the moment two Matrix projects that I am thinking of writing. One of them is a similar, post Revolutions story, set 18 years after our heroes never returned. The other is a Trinity back-story. I am thinking of writing the former first.

Once again, thank you.


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